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Post by xurgon on May 22, 2008 17:47:59 GMT -5
"He doesn't want me to get lazy, so he sends his minions to...sharpen things up a bit."
A bit? Isn't this going off the deep end? Xurgon picked himself up when he heard the bullets hit the dragon skulls, but also heard the fire softening up the blows considerably. He felt the familiar buzz of Cure materia being used. Cure...?
An idea just came to mind.
The psychic took a quick look at the wraiths tightening the circle around them, then pointed to the Cure materia, "Are you able to use that again? If so, use it on them."
The monsters gave an intelligent, but confused "stare", if having empty eye sockets considered to be staring. They snarled, then muttered in a horrendous, gutteral language that sounded like, well, stuff dying.
What were they saying?
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Post by Vincent Valentine on May 23, 2008 6:13:41 GMT -5
"He...?" Vincent replied back to Xurgon casually as he fired his Cerberus weapon, in the usual manner he did to echo someone quzzically when he wanted a question answered. Whoever this person was sending the undead to Xurgon, it sounded like they wanted him alive and sharp, and that could only be for some vile purpose.
The Nobody mentioned to him to use the Cure materia, and Vincent nodded. Sure, he had considered the idea and knew that curative spells had the opposite and damaging effects on them than their living counterparts, but he had considered such a small spell such as Cure would be about as useful as a punch in the face to these creatures...
Well. Better that than ineffective bullets.
He re-inserted the materia into Cerberus and began opening fire, each tri-shot cluster of bullets now making a restoring sound as green wisps of Materia magic followed their wake, towards each bony wyvern that was circling towards them.
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Post by xurgon on May 23, 2008 10:47:30 GMT -5
The beasts shrieked a startled cry, the cure materia wrapping itself around the monsters like the tentacles of a squid. Their bones started burning, sizzling and crisping from the curing. They panicked, gliding this way and that, trying to get the burning stuff off of them. A few of them hit a wall, others were dumped into pottery that hadn't been shattered.
They kept squirming, like maggots.
"Keep at it. They have no mercy to the living, and we have no mercy for the undead."
They were trying to do somersaults, stop-drop-rolls, even trying to put each other out. If Xurgon knew what laughing was, he would be on the floor at the scene. The scene finally ended when they all glared at Vincent, then shrieked a battle cry.
Well that cure didn't last long.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on May 27, 2008 6:10:09 GMT -5
Cure seemed to have more of an effect than he previously thought. He only wished he had a more powerful curative spells, like Cura, Curaga, Regen, or even Life. But, at least he had some means of preying on their weaknesses. But if the force of the spell wasn't enough to end their lives, then he would have to add some force.
"Indeed," Vincent simply said to Xurgon, and then jumped up towards the dragons. He shot at them again and again with Cerberus, and then concentrated on the ones writhing in green energy, lashing out with forcful kicks and punches from his feet and gauntlet respectfully. He bounced off one skeleton to the next, attempting to send them flying backwards into the tall stone buildings surrounding them to shatter their bones into dust.
He had not noticed Xurgon had not answered his questionable nature. He assumed Xurgon did not go into details, even if he was no proceeding to help destroy his enemies for him while he recovered.
And like Xurgon, he did not repeat himself.
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Post by xurgon on May 27, 2008 10:54:02 GMT -5
The monsters automatically flew back into the wall, and shattered, the bones fading away in a flash of blue fire. It seemed the monsters were more lightweight than predicted, and without their fire, next to powerless. The remaining ones automatically brought up their fire again, but mysteriously started backing away from them. They dropped down on the ground, curled up their tails and spines to support their upper bodies, and gave their version of a kneel. What were they kneeling at? Them?
Xurgon did not say a word as the mental question was answered. The air suddenly got several degrees colder, like standing in a crypt on a winter day. Behind them rose a shadowy-blob that took form.
Bat wings...
A skeletal left arm...
A bony dragon-claw staff with red orb...
And a red flame where the right eye of the figure would be.
By the shadow's appearance, the figure wore robes of some kind. Around those robes were writhing masses of shadow, practically smoking off of the ground. The shadows were so dark, natural light seemed to vanish on contact. Those remaining wraiths all barked something incomprehensible, but by tone it sounded like: "Master!"
The master, as he was called by the minions, simply ignored them, and had his attention focused on both Vincent and Xurgon. He smirked evilly, and parted the shadows from concealing his form. Cloaked in black with green skulls, how original. His face though, was hidden by the top half of a dragon skull, hollowed out and shaped to be a helmet. It was clear he looked through the skull's eye sockets. His left eye was a sickly gray, while his right one was missing entirely. Instead, a tiny red flame continuously burned in the empty socket.
[glow=red,2,300]"Fancy meeting you here, Xurgon. I was just on my way to making this city one giant temple. A shame the Skeledogs' fun had to be spoiled."[/glow]
His head moved to regard Vincent, [glow=red,2,300]"Ah, an other-worldly friend-," [/glow]then his tone considerably darkened, [glow=red,2,300]"-whom I had not had the pleasure of meeting as of yet. Who are you?"[/glow]
Ugh...that voice...sounded like the creaking of rusted steel to Xurgon. Not only that, but the feeling of impending doom this guy brought didn't help things either. To top that off, there was the ever present wretched stink of embalming fluid.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on May 29, 2008 10:41:34 GMT -5
Vincent landed hard, crouched again in a kneeling position, rising slowly as he sensed the new figure behind him. He turned patiently, topaz cold eyes meeting the figure, hearing the inhuman cries from the remaining skeletons of 'Master'. If is man controlled them, and was the 'he' Xurgon had failed to mention, he wasn't sure he wanted to get involved.
He knew giving out his name to the master of the dragon he had just killed was a bad idea. But he sensed the man - if he could be considered a man with his appearence - would get impatient and send his lapdogs after him again. Which he didn't need. So, he decided to keep him talking for the moment.
"Someone who knows better not to get involved. I want not part in this." he replied curtly, eyes not leaving the man so he wouldn't be convinced he knew Xurgon and use that information to his advantage. It was just that, it was only self-defence - in a sense - before Xurgon had showed up. He was a big boy, he could handle his himself without Vincent's help, as he didn't want Xurgon to get involved with his own Deepground and Remnants affairs. He lowered Cerberus to his hip, waiting for a responce.
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Post by xurgon on May 29, 2008 18:37:43 GMT -5
[glow=red,2,300]"You're too late. If you did not want to be a part of this charade you would have fled while you had the chance."[/glow]
The man regarded Xurgon, almost cruelly, [glow=red,2,300]"Well, did you retrieve the artifact?"[/glow]
Xurgon did not say anything, which caused the master to dismiss his minions away with a wave of his skeletal claw. He replied in a dangerous tone, [glow=red,2,300]"I am getting irritated and tired of waiting, Xurgon. Where did you last see it?!"[/glow]
"Radiant Garden."
[glow=red,2,300]"It could be anywhere by now. Find it, or your miserable existance is forfeit."[/glow]
The metal bat wings on his back shifted slightly, almost like a bird ruffling it's feathers. He was clearly still furious. The man slammed the butt end of the staff down, and into the ground. When he pulled it back up, a new creature burrowed itself out of the ground next to him, to curl up like a spring over the hole.
It looked like a worm crossed with a snake. The body was segmented, like a worm, but at the same time, scaly and snake-like. The scales were an ashen gray, and some of it was peeling off in patches. There were holes in its thick body that had the sharp nose-burning tang of acid. It did not have any socket holes in its head, or face. It was white and smooth, clearly bone framed by skin. The teeth were so large, they kept poking out of the mouth, even when the mouth was shut. It growled a gutteral snarl, watery and distorted. Its size was...beyond large. It looked able to chew up a horse like eating a candy bar. Acid dripped from the teeth in generous portions, making dots in the ground.
The man's attention was back to Vincent, [glow=red,2,300]"Now tell me the truth."[/glow]
It appeared that the creature he summoned was a warning to not irritate him any further.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on May 30, 2008 6:12:26 GMT -5
Vincent remained as silent as the grave. He could have said something to this ungodly abomination before him in reply to why he never fled from a battle, but in all honesty, he didn't care what the sorcerer thought of him. He was more willing to show him himself with action. So he remained silent, only taking the conversation about the artifact with some attention, before some new nightmarish, disgusting fiend was raised from the ground before them.
"I'm trusting you've also dealt with one of these undead creatures?" He said to Xurgon behind him, not turning to look at him. Then, he looked with a cold, steely gaze towards the dragon-helmeted summoner, answering him with a tone as equally as icy.
"Then you leave me no choice. I don't need to tell you anything... friend." he replied stoically, the last word thick with implications but mostly sarcasm, wondering silently to himself if this man was too cowardly to have his summons torment them rather than doing his own dirty work.
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Post by xurgon on May 30, 2008 12:04:22 GMT -5
The man smirked from underneath his helmet, showing off actual vampire fangs. The man phased out, like a ghost, leaving after-images to phase out too. He phased back in from behind Vincent, dropping the skeletal claw on his shoulder, [glow=red,2,300]"You truly do not want to engage me in combat. You would rather engage my minions than me. Just my appearance should scream out that I have no respect for life. Xurgon here tried defying me several times, and he failed every time. We hardly even had a match; he went down with just a spell."[/glow]
Xurgon cast his eyes down, not responding to the creature's claim. The sorcerer phased out, then back in to where he was previously standing, [glow=red,2,300]"Your new friend could probably kill you just by reliving your memories. Ah, we must try that! That sounds like fun. Xurgon, if you please."[/glow]
The psychic didn't move, even when the sorcerer commanded it again. He was then poked with the butt end of the staff, which had sharpened considerably. The sorcerer did not look pleased, [glow=red,2,300]"Do it, or it's The Pits for you."[/glow]
Xurgon looked back up, then relayed a message only Vincent could hear:
Sorry. This might get rough.
The air started to distort, and his eyes changed from scarlet, to a glowing purple. That was the only thing normal, because everything else beyond that point was beyond weird. The sound of slamming prison doors resonated, then a mental cage came down.
Mind Cage.
Trapped within the most horrible part of the past, and forced to see them played over and over again like a bad movie. Before it actually started, Xurgon relayed another message into Vincent's head:
Resist it. That's the only advice I can give you.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on Jun 1, 2008 8:16:00 GMT -5
(OOC: I'm assuming this is a staff-approved attack I haven't seen in Xurgon's profile yet...)
Vincent remained silent. The necromancer went off into a tyrade, proclaiming how powerful he was, as all villians did. In the meantime he tightened his grip on Cerberus, planning out his next move, planning on shooting the necromancer to stun him and then shoving him backwards into his own summoned creature. Sure, it wouldn't kill him, but at least it would be enough of a distraction for him and Xurgon to get away.
The moment the necromancer teleported behind him and touched his shoulder, the moment he finished his sentance, Vincent lunged his golden clawed hand backwards where the necromancer was standing in an effort to smash his hand to crack the dragon skull he had covering his face. However, he stumbled in the aftermath as his hand passed through nothingness, the nercomancer having already teleported again.
How did he know what I was thinking? I certainly did not speak out loud I wanted to fight him, Vincent thought. Is he a mind-reader?
He ignored the necromancer's proud claims he had defeated Xurgon before with a simple spell, and then ordered Xurgon to 'kill him by reliving his memories', all the while keep a close eye on the giant toothed worm-creature the necromancer was summoning. Why did he summon a creature to deal with them when he was going to get Xurgon to attack for him anyway? This was all thought of while Xurgon continued to remain stubborn to attack him, surprised the Nobody respected him enough that he hadn't attacked him instantly, although the necromancer had to have been impressed with Vincent's own power to make an appearence. He braced himself for the worst, holstering his handgun Cerberus, knowing fully well that any mental assault on him would hinder his ability and accuracy to use his ranged weapons.
The attack hit, and Vincent suddenly found himself reliving the most horrible visions of his past in real time like some vivid nightmare. First of Lucrecia suffering from the experiments on her unborn child. Then of him getting shot at point-blank range in the stomach by Hojo, and left to bleed out and die on the floor. Followed by months of extended experiments and torture in the veins of his body as he writhed in agony inside a statis tube full of water, wrestling with the Chaos demon that had been implanted inside his body, a furious fight that continued to rage even after the Protomateria had been inserted. He clutched his head and fell to his knees, stunned by the pure vividness of the fully relieved memories he both was haunted by and repressed deep in his heart.
Then came the memory of awakening to discover the abomination he had become, and sealing himself away out of anguish and rage of what he had failed to stop. Then awakening to discover the destruction caused by Sephiroth, finding Lucrecia sealed away inside her cave and having to lie to her about her son living to spare her feelings, and of the end of the final battle against Sephiroth which he had to leave to help the citizens of Midgar evacuate before the zenith of Meteorfall. He clutched both hands against his head, aware these were all simply visions Xurgon was bringing to the surface of his memory, but the realism of it knocked the air out of him.
After came the assault of Deepground, where he remembered having to fight Shelke. Looking on Shalua's lifeless body as her conciousness died in the WRO labratory from saving the aforementioned sister of hers. Rosso impaling him and pulling the Protomateria out of his body for the first time. Being stuck momentarily in Nero's darkness until he broke free, and then witnessing Shelke and Yuffie becoming consumed in the same darkness. The first with Azul, Rosso and Nero, and fighting Hojo-pocessed Weiss before loosing himself to the power of Chaos completely. The feeling of being impaled yet again as he fought the last battle inside Omega Weapon against Weiss. The memories of Chaos triggered a deep growl out loud from deep within his chest, his mind suddenly remembering Xurgon's warning along with the fact there was a carnivorous worm aside a powerful necromancer somewhere beyond the memories he couldn't sense, and suddenly an aura of purple light surrounded his own body.
His body thinned slightly, his skin turning a deathly pale grey, his face wrapped with an unseen force by bandages that wrapped around his face like a mummified corpse, save for one eye that pulsed purple. His clothes fell away with the sound of ripping, leaving him shirtless, his pants tattered as much as his cloak once was. His golden armor remained but was segmented and disjointed in places, and his handgun Cerberus had shape-shifted as well in molded liquid metal along with his other weapons, becoming a mighty chainsaw, roaring to life in his right hand.
The purple aura faded, and Vincent was no more. He had transformed into one of Chaos demon's lesser forms, the undead nightmare himself - Hellmasker. Xurgon's mental attack had triggered Chaos's defense mechanism, but the demon within did not sense a threat enough before him yet to revert to his true form, as Vincent held him back within his mind. In this form, he was slightly more imprevious to magical and psychic attacks due to his undead nature, but more weak to physical opponents with bone-crushing strength.
The memories still running painfully through his mind like a horror show, Vincent within Hellmasker commanded the demon take over for him and ignore the Nobody next to him, ordering him to lash out with his chainsaw at the grotesque worm before them.
Or, luck with him, the necromancer that provoked all this anguish.
Hellmasker shifted forward through reality like a violent angry spirit, moving so increasingly fast that it seemed like he was teleporting, and thrust his chainsaw out towards the undead pair in a Splatter combo attack.
The attack could only hit one person... but with him trying to resist the mental imagry in his mind that was less intense now, he was blinded, lashing out like someone attacking in pitch black darkness...
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Post by xurgon on Jun 1, 2008 10:39:53 GMT -5
When Vincent changed into Hellmasker, the Mind Cage automatically stopped. It did not know which state of mind to penetrate, so it fizzled out entirely. All that energy used to create it backlashed on Xurgon, causing him to stagger back a couple steps. It seemed he was fine, no damage done, just some disorientation.
The necromancer moved to the side with supernatural efficiency, and the worm minion managed to use the curled up position it was already in to spring away. The end of the tail though, was caught by the chainsaw, ripping it up and unleashing the spray of highly corrosive acid from it. When it landed, it started to ooze acid from the holes in its body, like pus from a wound. Acid began to drip in beyond generous portions from its mouth. The build-up caused it to spray acid from the mouth at Hellmasker, the acid tough enough to chew through titanium and beyond.
He looked pleased, [glow=red,2,300]"Well well, what a twist! He has turned into one of the undead! How pleasing. Perhaps I shall use Control Undead and turn him into one of my lieutenants!"[/glow]
Xurgon managed to butt in the necromancer's forming rant, "Not an honorable thing to do between undead. After all, how often is it you see two undead fighting?"
The dead sorcerer just glared daggers at him, but didn't move. The psychic had a point. Not very often the undead could be seen fighting. The honor part wasn't necessary though. Undead had no honor, or he had yet to see one that isn't being controlled by something else.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on Jun 2, 2008 4:38:58 GMT -5
As the effects of Mind Cage wore off, Hellmasker had just enough time to decide he would use his sudden sense of clarity to cast his Nightmare status-effecting attack on one of his opponents - hopefully the necromancer - when suddenly the acid oozing out from the carrion worm he had just chainsawed splattered him in the face and body.
He had never felt a more intense pain.
It was just as lucky he was in Hellmasker's form with it's semi-tough, undead rotting skin, or else the pain he felt could have been much, much worse. And lucky also for him, Hellmasker's mouth was stitched shut as most mummified corpses were, stopping Xurgon, the necromancer and all of Agrabah from hearing he screams he could have voiced. Undead skin rotting and peeling away instantaneously, he had no choice but to transform back into Vincent Valentine, a bright purple aura metamorphing him back into his human form that played host to the demon within.
The ex-turk was getting rather pissed off at this necromancer who felt he was all high and mighty above him and Xurgon, his only saving grace for Vincent not killing him now was both his relucance from unleashing the full brunt of Chaos upon the desert kingdom, and the fact that having already learned previously that his human form was too sluggish to keep up with the necromancer's teleporting. He could chase him around the rooftops all night, and still the undead lich would be two steps ahead of him. And it seemed the figure with the flame in one of his eye sockets want to test Xurgon's skill against this undead creature he had summoned, to either punish him for his arrogance or his involvment for assisting Xurgon.
So be it. If he wanted him to fight this worm, then he would stop it before it hurt anyone else. And take on anything this necromancer would throw at him.
And so he took Cerberus from it's holster once more, still loaded and customised with the Cure materia, and shot at the massive leech writhing with acid before him. Careful to anticipate any more acid being shot his way which could prove fatal this time.
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Post by xurgon on Jun 2, 2008 11:13:48 GMT -5
The bullets punched through the rubbery-like hide, and more acid oozed out. It didn't seem to distract the monster from burrowing into the ground, and unleashing acid geysers from holes that it made. Both Necromancer and psychic moved away from the geysers, to stand on the rooftops out of the "arena". Where was the snake now?
Still shooting geysers.
The necromancer smirked at Xurgon, who was on the rooftop across from him, [glow=red,2,300]"You know how to stop the Carrion Snake. So go ahead, rip it to shreds."[/glow]
"I refuse to use darkness."
[glow=red,2,300]"No skin off my back if you don't use it. Hahahahaha!"[/glow] He started laughing at his own pun.
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Post by Vincent Valentine on Jun 2, 2008 12:11:30 GMT -5
Vincent made indefinately sure he dodged the acid coming out of the geysers this time, leaping backwards onto the rooftops adjacent to Xurgon and the necromancer. What, just because they had set an 'arena' for them, he was expected to follow the rules? If he remained on the ground that the worm was buried currently underneath, he'd either be eaten whole when it emerged or he would be coroded by the acid it was spitting out from it's sandtraps in the ground. He had to keep on his toes, until he figured out a way to stay on higher ground without the undead slug reaching him.
He narrowed cold, topaz eyes between the two other humanoid figures at the rooftops, overhearing the conversation, picking up the subtle hints. He was a little incredulous at why Xurgon wasn't assisting him, as now there was the powers of the two of them they could try to get rid of this necromancer together, but he supposed it had to do with some of Xurgon's history he didn't want to know about. The necromancer, however, was already to get on his nerves with his crude jokes and prideful nature... he was sure that someday if Xurgon managed his own fight against him, it would be his downfall.
So, he was supposed to use darkness, was he? That was a shame. There was only one weapon in his arsenal that could use darkness... and that was Chaos. It was his element. And it would also be useful in this battle too, as his demon wings and his demonhide skin could protect him from the ground-based acid-spitting worm. But Chaos was a fickle creature to draw out - he only appeared when either the Protomateria was taken out of Vincent's chest, when he sensed the end of a world drawing near as Omega Weapon did when it was time for it to emerge as Gaia's ark, or when Vincent's body was in extreme danger, it got angry or it sensed a challenging opponent - like when Rosso had punched him back in Edge. Perhaps he could somehow provoke Chaos out of him, instead of using all his strength to pull him out willingly from deep within, by using the worm's attacks to his advantage.
So for the moment, he got the idea of perching himself on a fabric overhang that acted as a rooftop over the alleyway below, like a hammock but stretched taught, a perfect vantage point to snipe at the worm below before he could see it coming.
But for the moment as he glared lividly at the necromancer, he acted like the patient Turk hunter he used to be, and waited patiently for the acidic leech to resurface from the hollow ground below.
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Post by xurgon on Jun 2, 2008 12:56:10 GMT -5
The necromancer continued to taunt him, and Xurgon continued to refuse. This went on for a few seconds, until six, huge black hooks attached to large, thick chains exploded out of his back, and went after the necromancer. They bounced off some sort of moving shield that was bubbled around the sorcerer. The shield was still visible, considering the relentless and absolutely brutal attacks assaulted upon it. Wisps of white made up the shield, and they were...moaning in agony?
A shield of souls. Stolen souls.
The shield dropped, and his right eye socket began to glow red. The flame inside grew, and a beam of red energy shot forth, hitting the weak shield Xurgon attempted to make with the hooks. The beam hit the hooks, causing them to instantly rust and crumble away, along with the chains. That brought out an inhuman scream from Xurgon, sounding more like a monstrous roar than a scream of pain. The necromancer was laughing at Xurgon's agony.
That was when the worm chose to strike at Vincent, with an acid bomb from it's clipped-off tail. So, it had ground-to-air attacks? How intriguing. The monster's head popped up from one of the holes, went back down, and popped up again from another hole. So, a very twisted game of Whack-A-Mole huh? More like Shoot-A-Worm.
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